Punjab CM asks industrial units to start work to stop labourers’ exodus

COVID-19 EFFECT: Captain Amarinder Singh says govt in touch with Radha Saomi Satsang Beas to arrange for stay of migrant labourers ahead of harvesting season

To address the problem of migrant labourers and prevent their exodus from the state amid the Covid-19 outbreak, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has asked all industrial units and brick-kilns in the state to start operations while adopting safety provisions.

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The Cm said the state government was in discussion with Radha Soami Satsang Beas, which has already offered its premises as quarantine facilities, to allow migrant labourers to stay there as these people would be needed for wheat harvesting in the fields in two weeks’ time.

The owners of industrial units and brick-kilns can commence production if they have enough space to accommodate the migrant labourers and provide them with food, said the CM, appealing to the owners to ensure social distancing.

All hygiene precautions must be made fully available at all such industrial facilities for workers, said the CM, adding that the owners should also make soap and water freely available for the use by the workers and regularly sanitise the common facilities.

The directions came amid reports of lakhs of migrant labourers getting stranded across the nation and the problem assuming ominous proportions with such labourers gathering in large numbers at borders in many states.

The CM said this would be beneficial for both, the industry/brick-kiln owners as well as the labourers, who had lost their employment and homes in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown, and had been left to fend for themselves.